NBA Live 10 Hands-on

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This year's game is poised to put some heat on the reigning champ.

By Nate Ahearn

The NBA Live series has been stuck in some thick mud over the last few seasons. We in the press know it, fans know it, even EA is aware that the series hasn't lived up to expectations lately. The developers at EA Canada are doing everything they can to up the level of quality for NBA Live 10. There are new gameplay additions (many of which have been shown here at IGN), new animations, a more polished overall look and some fancy new game modes that NBA enthusiasts are sure to enjoy. For today we're going to be concentrating on the area of NBA Live that needed the most attention: the core gameplay.

When you first boot up the game you're launched into the NBA Live hangar. Here you'll be able to shoot around with a number of top-tier NBA pros and work on some moves. It's nothing revolutionary and is very similar to the practice courts that we've seen from EA Sports games in the past, but having other NBA players present does add some personality to the experience. There's small tutorial text that pops up on the lower-right of the screen to detail new moves, luckily we had developers on-hand so we were quick to hop into a real game.

As soon as you step onto the court you'll notice that the detail on player models has been kicked up a notch. There are some cool depth of field effects and the general look of the athletes is closer to reality than it has been, right down to Pau Gasol's greasy hair. Animations have been ratcheted up in their fluidity and complexity. It's all in an effort to give the player a greater feeling of control and, for the most part, it worked.

I'm not usually one to get caught up in the shoes and jerseys that players wear, but this year's Live put a lot of effort into delivering a ton of accoutrement details. There are 500 new pairs of shoes and 90 new jerseys – retro and otherwise – that you'll be able to utilize in-game.

If there's one aspect of the visual presentation that was a bit off in my preview build, it's the facial expressions. Players' lips don't move very realistically and that causes some of their antics on the court to look very strange. Another small gripe is that the speed of players' arms when passing the ball still doesn't quite match the pass. If a player is standing three feet from the man with the ball, you'll still see a fast arm motion while the speed of the ball is noticeably slower than if they were across the court.

Thankfully other animations look and feel very solid. Spin moves have been ratcheted down in terms of speed and effectiveness so you can't make your way to the basket quite as easily as in the past. Dribbling excessively around the hoop is also a dangerous move as I found out the hard way with Kobe and company. Best to just make your drive and either shoot or kick it out in a hurry.

Superman!

Shooting is all handled by one button this year. No more separate jump shot and dunk buttons as in the past. NBA Live 10 handles each contextually depending on where you are on the court, your left stick positioning, and whether you're holding down on turbo. From my experience it works well and behaves pretty much in line with what you'd want. If you drive to the basket and flick to the left or right on the stick, you'll get a pro hop layup to either side when you press the shot button.

General jump shots are now a timed release. Gone are the days of just holding down the button and hoping for the best (thank goodness). Fade aways are still a simple button hold, but I'll take what I can get. This new shooting method presents some difficulties if you've never shot with a specific player before. Different NBA stars have longer jump shot animations so you'll need to practice a bit to nail the timing perfectly. One cool addition to shooting that I nearly forgot to mention is that you can hold up on the left stick while you're shooting a jumper and your player will bank it off the glass ala Tim Duncan.